Hello TV Addicts! This is Mike V. of the Lost Addicts Blog among others. This blog covers any TV past, present and future! Look for my recaps/commentary on the latest episodes of Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, archived recaps on Fringe and several others, and weekly open forums on the current episodes of several other favorite shows. Please continue to chime in with your thoughts too!

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Monday, October 21, 2013

Welcome back fellow walkers for another dose of recapping mayhem for The Walking Dead! Many critics are looking at last night's episode as possibly the best version of what this show has the potential to be. I thought it was pretty good too and see the potential of the topics they're covering this season. The new showrunner Scott Gimple seems to understand what people would like to see in an apocalyptic zombie television show. We had some pretty emotionally draining scenes with characters we really hadn't met before (except for maybe some small introductions last week). And they're still finding new and exciting ways to bring us some zombie gore! Let's get into the recap!

Recap/Discussion Points

The Sickness

So, Patrick turned to a walker while everyone was sleeping. And he got into cell block D where Woodbury's Karen was residing. (Guess she should've taken up Tyreese's offer! Then again, she was probably already infected.) The zombie outbreak spread as Patrick chewed up a dude while he was sleeping.

Panic eventually ensued as our heroes were brought in for cleanup duty. No major characters were lost in this opening debacle, but they estimate on Talking Dead that 14 people were turned/killed.

The roughest one, of course, was the father of the 2 girls that were naming walkers last week. (Lizzie and whatserface) Carol at first thought it was just an arm bite, but then saw his neck was bitten as well. First, kudos to the little girl actors for bringing it in the horrifying scene to follow with watching their father die and having to make sure he STAYED dead. Lizzie wanted to be strong and "take care of it" as her father taught her, but she floundered. Carol had to do it quickly before he turned.

Meanwhile outside Michonne was just getting ready to resume her Governor quest and heard the panic in the prison. She turned to come back. Carl opened the door, Maggie was on watch. Michonne fell off her horse while the walkers were piling up on her. Carl had no choice but to grab a gun and shoot one of them and Maggie/Carl helped her into the prison grounds.

So, it was a little confusing about how this "Super Flu" has begun to spread. They discussed the pigs possibly carrying it, and there was the dead boar in the woods as well. But later Rick said that they may have made the pigs sick. And of course, some of the walkers looked a little strange in the eyes last week suggesting that they were carrying the bug too. And considering that Karen and unknown dude Dave were slicing up walkers on the fence the episode before and they came down with the sickness, I guess that crazy looking walker was carrying it too? Of course, we only saw/heard that they had a cough. They may not have had what Patrick had. But we'll get to that.

So anyway, like I mentioned, they were quarantining off people that appeared to be sick. And there was a general "stay away from the people that were exposed to this virus during the fight" vibe going around. This was mostly apparent in scenes between Glenn (exposed) and Maggie (not exposed).

There was also the scene with Michonne recovering and Judith crying where we all got worried that maybe Judith got the bug too. And well, I guess we're still not sure. Beth was doing her usual singing thing but then Judith puked all over her. Michonne did her best to try and avoid contact with the baby but then just completely fell apart when she held her. I first thought she was trying to avoid getting sick, but it seems like there might be a backstory to Michonne here that may unfold this season.

The Gate Crashers

There seems to be an influx of walkers to the prison, which could be for several reasons. More people residing there, more noise (due to the internal attack that happened), pigs residing on campus, and possibly other threats luring them there. In any case, there was a looming threat that the fence was going to collapse all episode and it got way more real later on.

The walkers kept piling up on each other and there was too much weight on the fences. The signature moment came with the one walker's face peeling open as his face smashed into the fence.

There were too many walkers to kill in their traditional way with stakes through the eye. Rick had to act fast. Daryl and Rick teamed up with a truck and a box full of pigs. Rick unwillingly slashed up some piggies to lure the walkers away from the fence which temporarily (we think) ended the threat.

But questions remain. Someone is feeding the walkers rats at night which could be a reason they're getting lured there. Was it Lizzie feeding her buddy Nick? Was it the Governor? (from the inside? probably not) Could it be someone working on the inside FOR the governor? There are a lot of Woodbury residents in the prison. There could be one among them that was loyal to the Governor. They've also picked up people along the way with their 3 questions. One of them could be a plant too. Of course, it could have nothing to do with the governor and there is just some A-hole inside making a ruckus.

Character Stuff

Rick has been doing his best to take a back seat during all of this. He has taken up farming, and has tried to get Carl into it too. Carl did ask for his gun back early in the episode, but Rick hesitated with it. For what it's worth, it does seem like Carl is trying to be a better person than the thing he became last season. But, he still freaks me out! After the walker plague battle was contained, Daryl was burying the dead with his hands and mouth covered. He had a moment with Rick where he was basically saying, "you've earned yourself a break for all the leading you've done in the past, but we need your leadership now more than ever." And Rick was reluctant to take up that post. They have their council that is governing by committee (Somewhere Princess Leia is yelling, "I am NOT a committee!"), and Rick feels that his decisions only brought death and bad instructions for his son. Every walker he had to kill during this episode you could see the hesitation in it, doing it out of necessity but not wanting to. By the end of the episode, Rick essentially lost his farm when he had to lure the gate crashers away with the pigs.

Meanwhile Carol has been having talks with Carl about his discovery last week. Carol has no shame in teaching kids how to use knives and defend themselves. And she asked Carl again not to tell his father. We also saw her new mothering techniques at work with Lizzie. Instead of mourning with her for her recent loss, she tells her how she was weak in not being able to slash her father's brain up. Yikes.

Then of course, there's Lizzie who is feeling more upset about the walker she named (Nick) being killed. Her sister called her stupid and messed up but not weak. In the end, Carol brought a little humanity into things by telling Lizzie she should feel bad about her father, and she gave her a flower for good measure.

In the end, Carl ratted out Carol to Rick but also told him that Carol SHOULD continue to teach the kids. He also was suggesting that Rick take more of a leadership role again. Rick said that he would not stop Carol. He set his pig farm on fire, gave his son his gun back and reequipped his holster belt and weapon. Rick's back!! (We think)

Cliffhanger

If feeding walkers rats and a plague outbreak wasn't enough of an internal threat, there is also someone taking matters into their own hands among them. Karen and Dave seemed to be sick (and on their way to Patrick's fate) and quarantined off from the rest of the group. Tyreese decided to continue his pursuit of love by bringing Karen flowers. What he came to find was an empty cell with a trail of blood that led outdoors. Now, I'm sorry, but if I was Tyreese I think I would have armed myself before going out there! But what he found were 2 burned corpses and a gas canister lying beside them. UMMMM WHAAAT!?!?!

So it would seem that someone went ahead and tried to eliminate the threat by burning these people. Were they already dead? Were they burned alive? Were they really infected?

And of course, the question is WHO did this? And is it the same person that is feeding walkers Rats?

This certainly smells of The Governor. Trying to rip apart these people from the inside out. But, we don't know where the Governor is and when he's coming back. We do have new characters this season. There's ol' Bob Stookey, who we now know is a doctor of sorts. We don't know much about him so can question his loyalty to the group. We can't rule out Carol as we know she is trying to protect the living. We know Rick had the gas canister to burn the pig house down. But would Rick really burn these people? I can't imagine. But then of course, there was crazy Carl there with him when he was using the gas. And I certainly wouldn't rule out Carl from anything! Granted, there could be multiple gas canisters lying around the prison, so who knows?

In any case, the threat for season 4 is getting very real and it's an interesting direction to take the show. You'd think a zombie apocalypse is bad enough. But you add sickness and human conflict into the equation and you have some interesting dynamics at play! So, I feel like I was all over the place in my recap above, but I think I hit a lot of the major points. I'm sure there's plenty more to discuss so have at it folks! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week!

8 comments:

So was Carol going to amputate that guys armwhen she first thought he had only an arm bite?

You do realize Lizzie did not name the walker Nick right? He was a mechanic or something and Nick was on his shirt.

Unfortunately I did miss some of the show - family emergency going on so was on and off the phone a few times. I'm going to try to re-watch. Pretty behind on shows again. Lol. We are doing house projects and it consuming alot of our time

Carol is certainly more hardened by their experiences just like Beth. She almost seemed too excited about amputating that guy’s arm kinda like she has gotten a taste for this new way of life. Thought it was going too far for Carol to tell Lizzie she was weak. I get her point, but seemed really harsh. I wondered if her sister saying she was “messed up” but not weak may mean she was the one giving the rats to the walkers.

When Judith first started crying and Michonne cringed at the sound, it seemed like a strange over-reaction, and Beth said Judith senses people’s moods, but then when Michonne held Judith, it obviously pulled at her heart strings, and like you said, there must be more to her story.

Best gory moments were the one guy’s guts falling on the floor as he turned over, and the walker’s face smashing into the fence. Still though, the hardest to watch was when Rick slashed the pigs even though I know it wasn’t real.

Guess everyone has to be careful about letting others hear them cough now because you might get burned to death! I think this is gonna bring out a much harder Tyreese.

And I agree about Carol - she's not messing around any more and it was a little harsh when she told her she was weak. I know she was not trying to be mean - more that she was being pragmatic. Since she lost Sophia she probably feels it's her job to train them to be stronger and more pro-active rather than try to protect them.

Def felt like they drew a line from you cough - you die.

Here at my office we felt that having the one little girl feeding the rats seemed off - like she's too short. And if the rat feeder and the body dragger/burner are the same person then it's not her for sure. IF they are the same person. LOL

But what if it's Carol ? I had to watch the ep again and they are really going out of their way to show her being overtly worried about the infection. She's the first one out of the door from the council meeting to say to Karen - are you infected ? And she just seemed really worried about it somehow - like they were making a point of showing how worried she it. Then all the stuff with Lizzy and Mika. Even teaching the kids how to use knives. The show seems to be really pointing out how Carol has become a fighter and a little hard-hearted when she feels the need. Is it so much of a leap then for her to burn these bodies that she feels will harm all of them?

So Carol is a good candidate for burning them, and maybe we have a secondary problem of someone feeding the walkers. Hmmmm.

After seeing Michonne with Judith I agree - it felt like she's lost a child. But - have to say I read a spoiler by accident of what happened in the books - which made me unhapy - so I actually now know stuff about Michonne and her background. Darn it !

Pigs were hard to watch - you know how weird I am with what upsets me. LOL RIP Babe ! I actually said RIP sheriffs shirt - and how I was sick of seeing it. But my husband pointed out that there were no patches on it so he felt Rick has actually changed shirts some time ago.

Michonne...I think we're all on the same page. The only silver lining I can offer you, MJ, on reading the spoiler is that there is a chance that it won't be EXACTLY the same as we've seen in the past with other plots. (I have not read the spoiler) So maybe you're okay! lol

Yeah, I don't want to draw the assumption that it's definitely Lizzie feeding the walkers. But, it definitely could be. A lot of people thought the person was too tall (flashlight was up high) for it to be her...or maybe that was on Talking Dead. I guess there's the possibility that it might be different people with the rats and the burning people. But, those people could be working together. So there could just be group threat within the prison.

I agree it could be Carol (and mentioned the possibility also in the recap lol). She definitely has shown the motive for something like that in these couple episodes.

Sheriff's shirt - I just saw a slideshow on EW or something about characters that never change clothes...and I think "the characters of The Walking Dead" were on one slide. They all have their standard thing they are wearing....and rick has always worn the sheriff's shirt. So, he may have burned that one...but will he have a spare!? lol We shall see!

Leslie -interesting cause at first I thought the only motive was to disrupt and make them miserable or want to leave. But yes - if Carol burning for safety then she has no motiveto fed them. They could be making us think Carol to throw us off. Lots of peeps think its aperson loyal to gov trying to ruin them and their home.

Yep, those seem to be the options. Someone loyal to Governor vs. Someone within the group trying to keep everyone alive by all means possible while Rick is on hiatus. Both are interesting directions to take the show!